The Bible in Chinese Characters

 Today, I want to show you something that is amazing. Most of us have heard that some Chinese characters can speak to the Biblical Truths.  Today I want to show you how that works and preach a little, at the same time. 

Chinese characters are called pictograms. They're pictures that convey a concept so that people can understand.    In fact, Chinese characters are made up of radicals.  A small picture with the larger picture.  For example, the character for peace is made up of the following radicals:

First, the "radical" for woman: 

And the radical for roof:

Therefore, the character that means peace is this:

So, according to the ancient Chinese, peace is having a woman under your roof.  The next bit of history, I want to examine is that we consider Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism as the traditional religions of China. These religions are relatively new in China.  China has an unbroken history of 4,500 years.  The oldest form of the written Chinese language has been dated back to about 2500 BC.  Taoism dates back to about 6 BC while Buddhism and Confucianism date back to about 5 BC.  What form of religion existed in the intervening years?  

From 2500 BC until about 6 BC the Chinese worshipped one God, His name was Shang Di or Tian.  Shang Di means the "Emperor Above", but let's look at Tian for a moment:

It's made up of the following radicals:

So, God is the one over all that is big (spiritually).  Another way to say that is The Most High God! 

Huang Di (Yellow Emperor) was the first emperor of China.  Si Ma Qian the greatest historian of ancient China said of Huang Di, that he worships one God.  

"Shang Di is another word for Tian.  The Spirits Do not have two Lords."  -Shi ji: Volume 28, Book 6, pg 624

There was only one God over China.  The bible also tells us that there is only one God!

Deuteronomy 6:4 (NKJV)
^6:4 "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!

Now, I want to show you some things and maybe teach you a bit about the Bible and maybe teach you some Chinese!

 Acts 17:24-26 (NKJV)

^17:24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. ²⁵ Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. ²⁶ And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 

From Creation to the Fall of Man

Language was created by people in order to communicate; so that we could talk to one another and pass concepts.  Written language as created to document history.  

Luke 1:1-4 (NKJV)
^1:2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, ³ it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, ⁴ that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.

Chinese language is especially suited to document history because it is in the form of pictograms - pictures.  Rod Stewart sang that old song, "Every Picture Tells a Story."  So, think about this if you wanted to picture a concept, you would use something that would be identifiable to everyone; something that they would remember.  Prior to a written language history was passed down verbally from generation to generation in the form of stories.  

Surely, people passed down the story of creation.  Look at this song:

Of old in the beginning there was a great chaos without form and dark.  The five planets had not begun to revolve, nor the two lights to shine. 

You, o spiritual sovereign came forth in your sovereignty and separated the pure from the impure.  You made heaven; You made Earth; You made man.  All things came alive with reproducing power.  -Shu Jing (Ancient Book of History)

That sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Genesis 1:1-3 (NKJV)
^1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. ³ Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. 

People knew the stories and understood the concepts and they began to codify them into the written language.

Here is the character for create:

The Bible tells us that God spoke it into existence and things began to move.  He said, "Let there be light - that's a declaration - and there was.  He created stars, planets, plants and animals.  He created Adam (mankind) and put them into the Garden of Eden. Adam was alone in the garden with God.  Now look at the Chinese character for blessing:

One person in the garden with God.  That's a blessing according to the ancient Chinese.  God created Adam from mud, breathed life into him Then took Eve from his side and put them together in the garden. This is the character for Garden:

So, God made one person from mud, took another from his side and put them into an enclosure or garden.  Look at what happens after God did that:

Genesis 2:16-17 (NKJV)

^2:16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

 God put two trees in the middle of the garden and instructed them not to eat the fruit of one of them. He for bid them.  Look at the character for forbid:

Then the devil came to tempt the woman.  He's a tempter, look at the character for tempter:

The devil came in amongst the two trees, secretly, in disguise as a serpent and tempted Eve and they sinned - The character for sin:

       

Adam and Eve sinned and were cast from the Garden, but they passed on that desire to sin. Finally, the world was divided at the tower of Babel.   The character for tower:

Mud and grass are used to make bricks, but at that time mankind had one language.

Genesis 11:4-8 NKJV
And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the LORD said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 

People were scattered all over the world.  Some of them ended up in China.  Huang Di was one of those descendants.  These things are not accidents, they aren't coincidence.  This is God trying to speak to people.  As Chinese people are learning to write they're learning these concepts.  It's the Old Testament in their everyday language.

Atoning for Sin

So, even though Aam and Eve sinned - all of us have sinned.  God didn't want to abandon His relationship with us.  He didn't want to lose people, right?  He could have killed everyone in the flood, but He left a remnant because He still wanted a relationship.  So, He instituted a system of blood sacrifice.  Here is the character for sacrifice:

So, the whole concept of the blood sacrifice is right here.  This is the atonement ritual.  The High Priest kills a bull and sprinkles its blood on the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant.  Then he kills a lamb and sprinkles its blood on the people and the mercy seat.  It's all right there in that one character. (Leviticus chapter 16)

God also set up a system of burnt offerings.  What is a burnt offering?  

There is one last thing - The Blood!

So, God, in not abandoning His people gave us these things so we could be redeemed from the penalties of our sin, but the Bible tells us that they weren't permanent.  They had to be repeated every year.

In ancient China, the emperor Qin Shi, (He's the guy who built the Great Wall of China) also built a place to worship Shang Di, in these same ways at an altar near the border.  They were called the Border sacrifices, but they were performed in the same way as described in the Bible.  They were done every year.  

The Bible tells us that animal blood can't be a permanent atonement for sin:

Hebrews 10:1-4 (NKJV)
^10:1 For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. ² For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. ³ But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. ⁴ For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. 

There is only one sacrifice that can cleanse us permanently - only one lasting remedy for sin - Jesus Christ - The Lamb of God!

Acts 4:12 (NKJV)
^4:12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

His blood washes us, giving us Eternal Life. The Chinese character for eternal:

A Drop of Blood that cleanses like water!

His Righteousness, Our Righteousness

I want to make one last point and that is this:

John 1:29 (NKJV)

^1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 

Only Jesus can take away your sin.  Only Jesus - because only He is sinless.  The Bible says, "There is none righteous, no not one." (Romans 3:10) Not you, not me - none righteous! However, when we act in faith and repent giving Him control of our lives, His righteousness is imputed to us.  In other words, His righteousness is transferred to us - and we become righteous.  Look at the Chinese character for righteousness: 

The concept of righteousness was conveyed in writing with the character for lamb over the character for me.  How do we receive this blessing from God?  How are we able to receive the righteousness of Christ and the blessing of Eternal Life?

The Bible tells us:

Romans 10:9-10 (NKJV)
^10:9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Confession in faith brings us salvation - faith brings righteousness.  Look at the Chinese character for faith:

A person speaks (confesses) their faith.  We confess our faith in Jesus, we confess unto faith.

For their whole lives, starting as little children, Taiwanese and Chinese people are taught to write these characters.  In the act of learning to write God is making Himself known to them through the Gospel in their own language.  Taoism. Buddhism and Confucianism are considered the traditional religions of Taiwan and China, but for a couple of thousand years before that, the people worshipped Shang Di.  They think of Christianity as "Western" religion.  They like to give credit to Lao Tse, Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) and Confucius, but the God of the Bible predates them by 2,500 years.  To me this is a proof that the Bible is the inspired word of God.  This can't be coincidence.  God is real - so His promises must also be real.